JOIN US“Israel has three paths ahead: It either apologises, or accepts the findings from an international commission investigating the raid, or Turkey will cut off ties,” Davutoglu told Hurriyet newspaper.
Once Israel’s closest Muslim ally, Turkey has said several times it wants Israel to apologise over the May 31 raid, pay compensation, agree to a UN inquiry into the incident and lift the blockade of 1.6 million Palestinians living in Gaza Strip.
Turkey has said before it was reviewing ties with the Jewish state. But Davutoglu’s words are the first time Ankara has explicitly threatened to sever ties unless its demands are met.Israel has opened its own inquiry.
Davutoglu met Israel’s Trade and Industry Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer last week in Brussels in talks aimed at mending fences. Turkey said then it had told Israel what it should do to repair ties.
“The messages conveyed to Ben-Eliezer have reached the Israeli government. We will not wait forever for an answer,” Davutoglu said. “It will be enough if their commission rules that the raid was unfair and they apologise in line with the commission’s verdict, but we have to see the verdict first.”
Deadly raid
Nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara on May 31 as part of an operation to stop a relief aid flotilla headed for Israeli-blockaded Gaza. Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel, cancelled joint military operations and barred Israeli military aircraft from Turkish airspace after the incident.
The United States wants Israel and Turkey, whose earlier friendship had benefited US policy in the Middle East, to patch up the dispute.